


not everybody gets a happy ending (but we make the most of it)

by loveyou3001



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU, Alternate Ending, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, Iron Family, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-08 19:14:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18900913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loveyou3001/pseuds/loveyou3001
Summary: (currently on hiatus)an alternate ending to avengers: endgame ORwhat would have happened if they'd had a little common sense





	1. Chapter 1

 

The battle was raging around him, and Tony Stark knew what he had to do. His only regret was that he wouldn’t be there for his family… but unless he did this, they wouldn’t be around either. Tony almost had the stones from Thanos’ gauntlet when suddenly, the gauntlet came off altogether. He looked up and Thanos no longer had a head.

Nebula, Tony’s extraterrestrial friend he’d met five years ago, was standing behind the body with a grim smile on her face.

“Somebody told me I should go for the head.” Tony had never been so happy to see someone in his life. He considered giving her a hug, but he wasn’t exactly sure what the alien/cyborg policy on that was, so he just smiled back.

“You weren’t- you weren’t actually going to use those?” Nebula asked, her expression turning more serious. “That would have killed you.”

Tony didn’t answer, instead looking to Thor, who had walked up behind them, lightning sparking in his eyes and from his hands.

“Let me do it,” Thor offered, his voice determined instead of pleading like the last time he’d asked to do this.

“Are you sure?” Tony asked, but it wasn’t like he didn’t know the answer.

“I’m sure,” Thor insisted. Tony handed him the gauntlet.

As he put it on, multicolored sparks mixed with the lightning flickering all around Thor. The storm clouds overhead grew darker and the battle seemed to come to a standstill. 

The sparks stopped and Thor’s eyes were glowing bright enough to give Tony a headache. 

“Never again,” he thought he heard Thor say.

There was a blinding flash of light and Tony and Nebula fell to the ground.

Tony must have passed out for a second or something, because he woke up to the spider-kid hovering over him.

“Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark, are you okay? Tony-” 

He opened his eyes, and laughed a little, which was kind of painful.

“Yeah, I’m good, kid. I’m really good.” To see the happiness in Peter’s eyes, just to see he was alive, was wonderful. He wouldn’t have to be in danger anymore, Thanos’ army was gone-

Tony suddenly remembered Thor, and stood up so fast he stumbled and almost fell. But Pepper had rushed to his side, and she caught him. 

And Thor was still there. His arm was a little scorched, and he looked exhausted, but he was alive. 

A crowd was starting to gather around them, looking amazed, silent in awe of what had just happened. Tony saw Steve approach him, bruised and bloody and holding a broken shield, but with a huge smile on his face.

“We won.”


	2. Chapter 2

Tony felt like the weight of the universe had finally been taken off his shoulders. At least for now, they were safe. He would have gone to help Thor, but some Wakandan medics were already fixing up his arm. He’d be fine, he’d been blasted with the full energy of a star before. What are some magic rocks to a Norse god?

He turned to Pepper, who was still holding his arm, and  _ wow, she looked really good in that suit.  _ He couldn’t believe how lucky he was to be able to go back home with his amazing wife and to see Morgan again…

Pepper looked just as happy as Tony felt.

“Nice work, Iron Man,” she laughed, then kissed him on the cheek. “Now you think we can-”

He didn’t get to find out what she was going to say because just then, he saw somebody he had not been hoping to see.

Thor’s brother Loki (yeah, the one that had tried to conquer Earth) was standing about 20 feet away.

Tony fired up his repulsor, but Loki put his hands in the air.

“I come in peace,” he said in sort of a mocking tone.

“LOKI!” That was Thor’s voice. Thor, who was in no shape to be running, was running towards his brother. Tony caught a glimpse of the alarmed expression on Loki’s face before Thor hugged him with his functional arm. 

Tony didn’t really feel like dealing with crazy Norse gods right then. His suit was a bit damaged, so he called for a new one, and as soon as they could, he and Pepper flew straight back home to Morgan.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  


“Why can’t we just keep an Avengers building without it getting blown up?”

Sure, the battle was over, but the chaos that ensued hadn’t given Tony a chance to relax since. Everyone had mostly gone their separate ways, but he kept getting messages from individual Avengers asking for advice on this or technology for that. 

He heard a muffled sound from inside one of the kitchen drawers. 

Opening the drawer, Tony saw it was one of his old phones. Like, a really old one. He hadn’t used this one in over five years, but it was ringing. The name on the screen read:  _ Tennessee Kid _ .

Tony’s face lit up. After the first battle with Thanos, he’d tried contacting Harley only to find out the kid had been dusted. It was only three days since they’d brought everyone back, and with everything going on, Tony hadn’t remembered to check on him.

He picked up the phone. “Harley?”

“Tony? Tony, it’s me.” The voice on the other end sounded different than he’d expected. Older, a lot sadder, maybe even a little panicked.

“Hey, kid. What’s going on?”

“I… Three days ago, I woke up and everything was… all messed up. I talked to some people, they said half of us had been gone for five years and- Tony, I don’t know. I don’t know what happened. I-” 

Tony felt awful for not calling Harley earlier.

“Kid, calm down. It’s okay. Do you need something? Whatever it is, I can get it for you.”

Harley’s voice was more steady this time. “Look, I wouldn’t be calling you if I had a choice. But… my family’s gone, I’ve got nowhere else to go. Tony… what do I do?”

Hearing the kid like this broke Tony’s heart. To be perfectly honest, Tony had no idea what to do. What he did know was that the poor kid didn’t deserve any of this and he was really close to heading over to Tennessee right then to go get him.

“Harley… I’m really sorry.” Those were the same words he’d been thinking when he left Harley by the side of the road in the middle of winter… how many years ago was that? Tony made a split-second decision. “You know what, I’m going over there right now to pick you up, be there in 20.”

He pressed the button to “end call”, tapped his watch, and before his suit had fully formed around him he was flying towards Tennessee.


End file.
